St. Maria Goretti Annual Church Festival 2013

 In these parts, Catholic Church's hold Summer Festivals , Picnics or Bazaars ,which ever they are called, and these are big Summer Events!!

My Church, St. Maria Goretti in Laflin, is no different!

Our Parish Festival is a 3 day long Fund Raiser for our Church and it brings people together to enjoy food, games, music and have some fun!!

Joe and I worked the first half of Friday night in the Hall where Bingo was being played. Joe was the caller and I was in charge of money.....I had to work the rest of the weekend but Joe attended each night.

There was also a Bake Sale in the Hall....

After we put in our shift at the bingo on Friday night, we were able to walk around the Festival , which was held in the Church Parking Lot.......

There are lots of Raffles and Games.....

You may remember I made up a Tea Basket for the Theme Basket Stand........

Here is the stand where all the Theme Baskets were displayed and people bought chances to win them....

That is Dorothy. who was in charge of the stand.....

 There was close to 50 baskets made up and donated by parishioners....

 And there were also Liquor baskets raffled off.....

 Along with big items like these.....

 

 And Cash Prizes and these 2 Children's Bikes.....

 Here are some of the other Stands.....

 These are friends of ours whose stand was the Gift Card Stand....

 Gift Cards were also donated by parishioners....

Carol, on the right, was in charge of this Stand......

  There is Joe testing his luck....

This was the Fill A Bucket Stand where parishioners picked up a basket at the church and filled it with at least $25 worth of items.....

Joe worked this Stand on Saturday night with Maria, on the left, who was in charge of this stand.....

This is Annette whose husband was one of the Festival Chair Person's this year, at her Stand, the Vera Bradley Purse Stand......

 Instant bingo is always a big draw.....

Then there were games for the Kids....

 This was to test Your Strength.....

 There were also Pony Rides which I forgot to get pictures of.....

And a different Band playing each night....

This was Groove Train.....

 Every thing is pretty much under large tents so even though it rained mid way through Saturday evening, people still came out!

You had to buy your tickets for all the delicious Food being offered.....

 Msr. Neil Van Loon is our Parish Priest and he was making his rounds and visiting with everyone!!

 You can see he was prepared to be on his feet all night!!

These are the Ticket Ladies!!

 Rose Mary on the far left who is going to be my Partner in running the Church Craft Fairs ( did I forget to mention that I am now in charge of the Craft Fairs??????)

 Maryann, the parish secretary, is next to her.....

 Janet, who always helps out at every Fund Raiser and who was one of my son's teachers, is on the left....

And Gen, who is well in her 80's and also volunteers for everything, is on the right.......

 We even had an ATM this year!!!

  Here is the ever popular Beer Stand!!

And these are the Food Garages that are only used for the Parish Festival.

You can see Joe making a Bee Line for the Food!!!

Individuals and Business's are able to sponsor stands and those are the names of sponsors you see behind Bill in this picture....

 Bill made something new this year...Pigs in the Blanket or Piggies as we call them......

That is Jeff cooking them.....

 Bill and Jeff always helped us when we ran the Church Flea Market.....

 Here are some of the Piggies that I took home.....

 A Meeting of the Minds here!!

 Looking down through the Food Stands.....

There's Joe getting more food.....

I always say that he eats his way through the Festival!!

 LOL!!

 We have a separate Food Garage where they make only Potato Pancakes.......

And there is usually long lines for this Polish/Slovak Speciality.......

 Here is what they look like.....

 They were very good this year!!   My Dad used to make the BEST Potato Pancakes!!!

Many other ethnic foods were sold like Halushki ( cabbage and noodles ) , Pierogies and  Porketta Sandwiches.....

And there was plenty of places for people to sit and eat.....

 The Stand to the right is where Soda was sold and also Dessert which was Strawberry Shortcake and Brownies with Ice Cream!!!  I was good and did not get either this year!!

 And of course, there was Pizza too!!

This is a major Fund Raiser for our Parish but not only does it bring in money to support the Church , it brings the parishioners together to become Friends and have Fun!!

Word is that we had a very successful Festival this year!!

I am linking up to these parties:

Oh! The Places I've Been

SATURDAY
 Strut Your Stuff Saturdays
Saturday Show and Tell
  Serenity  Saturday

SUNDAY
Inspired Sunday( Formerly Vintage View Sunday)
Share It One More Time Sundays

TUESDAY
Tuesdays with a Twist

Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and every day that you take the time to visit with me!

Hugs,
Debbie